​​​​​UAE, Dubai – Halo AI returns to the 1 Billion Followers Summit with a bold product evolution and a compelling growth story that cements its place as one of the region’s most dynamic startups. One year after winning the 1 Billion Pitches competition in 2025 and securing $6 million in seed funding led by Raed Ventures and Shorooq Partners, the company has turned early momentum into measurable results.

Over the past 12 months, Halo AI has established itself as the definitive AI-powered collaboration platform for brands and creators enabling enterprise teams to scale collaborations up to 10x without increasing operational load. Its distinctive edge lies in its human-in-the-loop approach: blending agentic AI with strategic human oversight to elevate influencer marketing at scale.

Halo AI rolled out a major platform update in September, which surged creator payouts by 378%, while the number of collaborations on the platform grew by 2.7x in the same time period. In Q4 2025 alone, sales increased by 118% quarter-on-quarter, driven by better campaign outcomes and improved retention metrics compared to the platform’s earlier version. These growth indicators confirm that Halo’s approach to agentic AI is resonating with brands and creators alike.

The platform sets a new benchmark for how brand-creator collaborations are managed at scale. The upgraded platform embeds advanced analytics across every collaboration, from brand safety scoring and community sentiment analysis to audience authenticity checks and real-time trend tracking. At its core is the AI Creator Management Agent: a smart co-pilot that helps brand managers oversee hundreds of campaigns concurrently while maintaining full control over strategy and creative direction.

Professionals retain ownership of key decisions while AI streamlines campaign execution, optimizing performance, improving outcomes, and expanding team capacity.

Vito Strokov, Co-founder and CEO of Halo AI, said: “We learned that brands don't want AI that replaces their teams; they want AI that makes their teams extraordinary. Halo is built on that insight: give humans superpowers, not a replacement notice.”

Rami Saad, Co-founder and Chief Business Officer, added, “Winning last year gave us the fuel. The results we’re announcing today prove we know how to use it. I believe the most valuable companies of the next decade will grow by mastering the interaction between people and AI. Halo AI is building the infrastructure to power that and I can’t wait to see the value brands and creators using our platform will be able to unlock in 2026.”

At this year’s Summit, co-founders Vito Strokov and Rami Saad took the stage to reflect on Halo’s evolution since its 2025 win and share key learnings from their journey scaling a startup in one of the fastest-moving industries. In parallel, the Halo AI booth served as an activation hotspot, drawing in a wide network of content creators and brand representatives who engaged with the new product features.

As the company heads into 2026, Halo AI is preparing for new feature rollouts, deeper enterprise and platform integrations and partnerships, and a rapidly expanding network of creators across the MENA region and beyond. From a promising pitch to a platform powering thousands of brand-creator collaborations, Halo AI is proving that the future of AI-powered marketing is about making human creativity unstoppable.

The 1 Billion Followers Summit 2026, organised by the UAE Government Media Office and hosted by the UAE from 9 to 11 January, across Emirates Towers, DIFC, and the Museum of the Future in Dubai, under the theme “Content for Good.”

About the 1 Billion Followers Summit

With a goal of reaching over a billion people worldwide, the 1 Billion Followers Summit, the world’s largest event dedicated to shaping the content creator economy, organized by the UAE Government Media Office, brings together top global social media influencers across all online platforms. The summit explores how new media can drive positive societal change and fuel sustainable economic growth for nations. It is a key component of the UAE’s drive to foster a vibrant content creator community.

For more information, please visit www.1billionsummit.com